The next morning, Li Banfeng returned to the Dark Star Bureau.
He had no intention of striking a deal with He Jiaqing, no matter how enticing the man's terms were.
It was only a single building. Even if he had to search every single inch, even if he had to brute-force his way through blind guesses and deductions, Li Banfeng was confident he could find the real records room.
The last time he had found the fake records room, it had been through the stairwell. This time, Li Banfeng headed for the stairwell once more.
With the records room wrecked, the stairwell should have been shut down. Li Banfeng had prepared to force his way in using the Unimpeded Passage technique. If his own mastery fell short, he could use the Sprawling Compound technique to borrow the skill from Hong Ying.
His wife had once mentioned that Hong Ying's Unimpeded Passage could phase straight through mountains. Even if he couldn't borrow the full might of the technique, Li Banfeng was confident he could pass through the building's walls.
Yet when he reached the stairwell door, Li Banfeng froze. The stairwell was not sealed off. There were no guards, and it was not even locked.
This was precisely what Gao Yina had meant about not putting defensive measures out in the open.
The higher-ups had undoubtedly tightened security around the real records room, but from the outside, not the slightest change could be detected.
Li Banfeng started from the ground floor and worked his way up, phasing through the walls from the stairwell on each floor to inspect the layout of every level. The stairwell was still packed with dense surveillance equipment, but with the projector present, every device equipped with a lens fell under his control.
His logic was sound, yet the outcome left Li Banfeng bitterly disappointed. From the ground floor to the top, stepping out of the stairwell on every single level brought him to the exact same spot: right in front of the elevators.
The stairwell had become an ordinary stairwell, no longer an entrance leading to concealed zones. Even the fake records room hidden on the twelfth floor was nowhere to be seen.
Something had changed in the Dark Star Bureau. The building was no longer what it used to be.
It seemed to have undergone a massive overhaul overnight. Could any traces of that overhaul be found in the stairwell?
Li Banfeng walked the stairs from end to end. Every flight had been swept immaculate, spotless and dustless, leaving not a single trace behind.
He returned directly from the stairwell to his office. Just as he was about to summon Chen Changrui to ask about the previous night, a sudden argument broke out over by the security team.
"I haven't received any paperwork discharging me from the security team! What right do you have to clear out my locker?!"
It was Zhong'er's voice.
"With your physical condition, there's no way you're coming back to the security team! New recruits are arriving soon, and I have to clear out some lockers for them!"
This was Old Sun from logistics. The old codger hadn't retired yet—what was he doing over at the security team?
Zhong'er snapped at Old Sun, "You're specifically targeting my locker! Do you just have to give me a hard time?!"
Old Sun glared back. "I run logistics! This is my job! If you think I'm doing something wrong, go take it up with my section chief! What are you shouting at me for?!"
"I'm sorting it out with you right here, right now! Even if your section chief comes, I'll make sure this gets settled!"
Old Sun gave a cold sneer. "Fine! Youngsters sure have some temper these days. Even our section chief can't rein you in, can he? Then let's skip the section chief and go straight to Director Chen! I have plenty of things to talk to Director Chen about. Some things you might've forgotten, but I still remember them clear as day!"
Zhong'er fell silent.
Did the kid back down?
Did Old Sun have something on him?
Old Sun was just an odd-job logistics guy—what kind of dirt could he possibly have on Zhong'er?
If Old Sun was merely pulling rank to scare Zhong'er, that would be one thing, but he actually dared to take this to Chen Changrui. That meant it was no small matter.
With Zhong'er silenced, Old Sun's bluster surged. "How many years have I worked in this bureau? Forget you—even if your captain came over, wouldn't he still have to call me an elder brother? The way you're talking to me—what kind of attitude is that?!"
He Bensheng, a worm cultivator, tried to mediate. "Brother Sun, it's just a minor issue. There's no need for this."
Old Sun shoved He Bensheng aside. "What do you mean, a minor issue? A wet-behind-the-ears brat pointing at my nose and challenging me—you call that a minor issue? Does he have any sense of rules? Does he have any manners? Who's backing him? Who spoiled him with these rotten habits?!"
As Old Sun's voice grew louder and louder, the desk phone on Zhong'er's desk rang.
"Director Li. Yes, I'll be right over." Zhong'er set down the receiver and headed straight to Li Banfeng's office.
Old Sun glanced left and right, then asked Haitangguo, "Director Li is back?"
Haitangguo gave Old Sun a sidelong glance. "I heard he is. Don't wander off too far—he'll probably call you in shortly."
"Call me in for what? I haven't done anything wrong. Isn't it just a locker? What could they possibly do to me over something like that? Even if Director Li is back, I'm not afraid. I have right on my side, I'm truly not afraid..." Old Sun's voice dwindled to a murmur as he hung his head and scurried out of the office.
Seeing Zhong'er limping in, Li Banfeng asked, "Who authorized your discharge from the hospital?"
Zhong'er said, "Doctor Kang approved my discharge and told me to rest at home. To be honest, I know he did his best; my recovery isn't going to get any better than this."
"Who said you can't recover better? At the very least, you should do as Doctor Kang said and rest up at home for a while longer."
"No more resting," Zhong'er shook his head. "Director Li, I'm doing fine right now. I can walk, and I can run—just not very fast anymore, but not to the point of getting in the way of work. I can still fight. The foundation of a third-tier Brawler is still there. I'm still useful! You know I've always been plenty capable!"
As he spoke, Zhong'er's voice trembled slightly. The blockhead was genuinely hurting inside.
"Who said you weren't useful? I told you to rest and recover, yet you insisted on coming back to work, and then you went and picked a fight over a locker!" Li Banfeng had the projector neutralize the surveillance devices in the office, then asked Zhong'er, "Just what kind of dirt does Old Sun have on you?"
Zhong'er lowered his voice. "I went into the stairwell once, and Old Sun caught me."
At the mention of the stairwell, Li Banfeng paused. "What did you go in there for?"
Zhong'er shook his head repeatedly. "I never intended to go into the stairwell in the first place. I accidentally broke a rule."
"A rule?" Li Banfeng blinked. "Which regulation says you can't go into the stairwell?"
Zhong'er shook his head again. "Going into the stairwell doesn't violate regulations. By the rules, with approval from higher-ups, we are allowed inside. But whichever floor you enter from, you must exit on that exact same floor. Under no circumstances are you permitted to go to any other floor."
Li Banfeng was taken aback again. "Which set of regulations has that rule?"
Zhong'er lowered his head. "It isn't a written rule. It's an oral rule. In the security team, oral rules like this are passed down by masters to their apprentices. Once, during an equipment maintenance job, electricians had to work in the stairwell, which required security team escorts. At the time, Director Chen was still captain of the security team. He assigned Datou to supervise. I was Datou's apprentice, so he brought me along to the sixteenth-floor stairwell. By rights, he should have explained the rules to me beforehand, but for some reason, he was uneasy the entire day, muttering under his breath from time to time as if talking to someone."
Li Banfeng asked, "Was he clutching some sort of communication device in his hand?"
Never underestimate Zhong'er's investigative instincts; he had genuinely caught that detail. "I wasn't sure if it was a communication device. I only remember his hand kept fidgeting with a button on his shirt. Considering what happened later, I suspect he was in contact with He Jiaqing at the time."
Li Banfeng nodded slightly. "Go on."
Zhong'er continued, "The two electricians inspected from the sixteenth floor all the way up to the eighteenth. On the eighteenth floor, they found the damaged wiring, issued a work ticket, and cut power immediately for repairs. At that moment, all surveillance equipment in the stairwell lost power. The two electricians focused on their work, while Datou stood at the landing, still fiddling with his button. I felt he was acting exceedingly strange and watched him closely. Datou must have noticed, because he told me to go upstairs and check other power equipment—clearly trying to send me away. I didn't know anything about electrical work, but since he gave the order, I had to obey. When I reached the nineteenth floor, I found the stairwell door standing open. Behind it was a large iron door, and that was open as well. Stepping through the iron door, I saw a cell. The nineteenth floor was supposed to be the recreation center, with a gym and a billiards room. When a cell had been installed there, I had no clue."
A holding cell was, in essence, a prison cell.
Li Banfeng asked, "How did you know it was a cell?"
"Behind that large iron door was another iron door, which was shut. On the door was written 'Cell No. 6.' But as far as I knew, the Dark Star Bureau only had five cells in total."
"Were there guards at the cell?"
"No, but I heard movement inside. I stood outside the cell door for a bit, and I thought I heard someone sighing inside."
Li Banfeng raised a brow.
There was actually someone locked in Cell No. 6.
"Who was locked in there?"
Zhong'er shook his head. "I don't know who it was. I couldn't open the cell door. I was pretty scared at the time and didn't dare linger, so I hurried back downstairs. I originally intended to tell Datou about it, but Datou was still clutching his button and muttering away. When I asked what he was mumbling, he said he was preparing for an exam and reciting test questions, then told me to go downstairs to keep checking the lines."
Datou had sent Zhong'er away twice. Clearly, he had had critical matters to discuss with He Jiaqing.
Li Banfeng asked, "Did you go downstairs?"
"He told me to go, so of course I had to. I headed down from the eighteenth floor. The seventeenth and sixteenth floors were normal, but when I reached the fifteenth floor, I found the corridor door open as well. Behind it was another large iron door. I pushed open the iron door, took a look inside—and it was a storeroom."
To Li Banfeng's recollection, there was no storeroom on the fifteenth floor. But that no longer mattered; what one saw entering a floor from the stairwell was entirely different from normal circumstances.
When Li Banfeng had gone to the fake records room on the twelfth floor, he had encountered a similar setup: a large iron door behind the corridor door. The only difference was that the iron door back then was shut, requiring the glove and the projector working in tandem to open it. But why had both doors been standing open when Zhong'er went there?
What had happened back then?
"Did you enter that storeroom?"
"I did. There was a lot of equipment in the storeroom, as well as a supply of harmonizing agents and guiding agents."
Li Banfeng asked, "Was this storeroom on the fifteenth floor like the Carrier Section storeroom on the eleventh floor?"
Zhong'er shook his head. "Not like the Carrier Section's. That storeroom was far larger and vastly older. Most of the equipment inside I had never seen in my life, but judging by their appearance, many no longer had any practical value."
Li Banfeng asked, "How did you know they lacked practical value?"
Zhong'er said, "I saw a steam locomotive."
Li Banfeng was stunned. "You saw a locomotive in a storeroom?"
"Yes. I'm certain it was no model—it was a genuine steam train! Something that massive, I have no idea how it was ever placed inside the storeroom. The train was way bigger than the doorway! You certainly can't run a train inside the Dark Star Bureau, and if you can't bring equipment like that out, what practical value could it have? I felt like I had stumbled into the wrong place and left immediately. By the time I returned to the eighteenth floor, the electricians had finished their work. Datou said he had urgent business, and once power was restored, he left the bureau. I intended to tell him everything the next day, but that very afternoon, Captain Chen came looking for me. He knew I had used the stairwell to visit other floors and reprimanded me severely."
Li Banfeng asked, "Didn't you explain your reasons to Chen Changrui?"
"I explained to Captain Chen that I truly didn't know about the rule. Captain Chen forgave me, but he told me that Old Sun already knew about it and warned me to be more careful in the future."
With that, Zhong'er made the whole story clear. Old Sun truly held leverage over him.
Li Banfeng asked, "Had I arrived at the Dark Star Bureau at that time?"
Zhong'er nodded. "You had just taken office."
"A cell on the nineteenth floor, a storeroom on the fifteenth—and no one ever told me about this?"
Zhong'er explained, "Director Li, I didn't know you well back then, and I had no idea how many people knew about that cell. I certainly couldn't just volunteer that information to you..."
Li Banfeng waved his hand. "I'm not blaming you. I just don't understand how Old Sun came to know about it."
Zhong'er said, "At first, I thought Old Sun had watched the surveillance feeds. But I asked around with our colleagues in the control room; during the electrical work, the surveillance equipment in the stairwells from the fifteenth to the twentieth floor was completely offline."
Li Banfeng pondered for a long time before asking, "Besides the train, did you see anything else in that fifteenth-floor storeroom?"
Zhong'er thought back. "There was also a floor-standing radio, a console television, a wire recorder, and a gantry planer. Back then, I lacked experience and figured such equipment belonged in a museum gathering dust. But thinking about it now, equipment like that might hold high research value."
"Gathering dust..." Li Banfeng pondered a long time again. "Was there actually any dust on that equipment?"
Zhong'er rubbed his forehead and thought for a good while before shaking his head. "No dust. The storeroom was spotless."
The storeroom was spotless, and the stairwell was spotless too.
"Spotless means someone cleans it. Who is in charge of cleaning in the bureau?"
"Cleaning falls under logistics—" Realization dawned on Zhong'er. "It's Old Sun! He oversees all the bureau's cleaning work!"
Li Banfeng said, "Call Old Sun in!"
If Old Sun had staff cleaning the stairwells, he had to know many of the stairwell's secrets.
From him, clues regarding the real records room could likely be uncovered.
Before long, Old Sun arrived.
Seeing Li Banfeng, Old Sun showed no sign of panic. He sat down before the desk and said unhurriedly, "I don't know what young Qin told you, but as for the locker, I handled it entirely by the book."
"Who asked you about the locker?" Li Banfeng stared at Old Sun expressionlessly.
Old Sun looked bewildered. "Then what are you asking about?"
"Think about it yourself."
"I... how could I possibly guess..." Old Sun grew flustered.
Li Banfeng said, "How about I help you think? Start by telling me about the cleaning duties."
Sweat beaded on Old Sun's forehead. "The cleaning budget... we did spend a bit much recently, but... but there's a paper trail for every cent! Everything I spent had a legitimate purpose!"
The old rascal had been skimming from the cleaning funds.
"I'm not talking about your spending! Tell me about something else."
"Then... then what else could there be?" Old Sun pursed his lips. "Director Li, I'm... I'm just a logistics worker. I'm practically retired. What else could I possibly be involved in?"
Li Banfeng tilted up the brim of his hat, a cold gleam in his eyes. "Let me prompt you once more. Who is responsible for cleaning the stairwells?"
Old Sun shook his head vigorously. "Director Li, no cleaning is ever scheduled for the stairwells! I would never break the bureau's rules!"
"Are you kidding me? The stairwells are spotless. Are you saying you never had anyone sweep them?"
"Never!" Old Sun was sweating profusely, but his tone held not a shred of hesitation. "Director Li, you can audit the books, you can check the personnel—I wouldn't dare lie about this!"
Li Banfeng asked, "Then how did you find out about Zhong'er's business?"
Wiping his sweat, Old Sun said, "I heard about it from the electricians. They said while they were working, they saw Qin Minghui walking up and down twice. They thought the newcomer didn't know the rules and feared he'd stir up trouble and drag them down with him. I guessed Qin Minghui might have broken protocol by visiting other floors, so I mentioned it to their captain. I didn't expect Captain Chen to summon Qin Minghui that very afternoon. Seeing that my guess hit the mark, I started using it to frighten young Qin. What was actually going on, I truly have no idea! The stairwell isn't a place I'd ever dare meddle with!"
Li Banfeng furrowed his brows. "Refusing to tell the truth, are you?"
"Director Li, I'm telling the absolute truth!"
The pressure of a cultivator above the clouds was not something an ordinary person could withstand.
Old Sun looked about ready to wet his pants; it truly seemed he wasn't lying.
Knock, knock, knock!
The Logistics Section Chief knocked and entered the office. He apologized first, then requested, "Director Li, I heard there was an issue with Old Sun's work. As section chief, I bear an inescapable responsibility. Would you allow me to look into the situation first?"
Li Banfeng nodded, signaling that he could take Old Sun away.
Once out of the office, Old Sun was still stumbling on trembling legs. The Logistics Section Chief asked, "Just what kind of trouble did you stir up?"
Old Sun sighed. "At the end of the day, it was just about a locker. I figured Qin Minghui wouldn't be coming back, so I took his locker back first..."
The section chief frowned. "Are you out of your mind? Over a few crummy lockers in the locker room, you kick up a fuss every single day like they're your family heirlooms! What the hell are you trying to do? The moment you have a shred of authority, do you just have to make life hard for people?!"
Old Sun was terrified now. He rushed to apologize to Zhong'er. "Young Qin, I'm getting on in years—not only am I foul-mouthed, I like to pull rank. Don't hold it against me. I have plenty of lockers on hand; pick whichever one you want."
He thought the matter was over, but Li Banfeng took it seriously. He investigated the personnel and combed through the records.
The result: the Dark Star Bureau truly had never scheduled any cleaning work in the stairwells.
Yet the stairwells were so clean. Who on earth was sweeping them?
That night, Li Banfeng went to the stairwell again and paced back and forth several times, but found nothing.
Back inside the companion dwelling, while Li Banfeng was still mulling over the causes and effects, the red lotus drew near and quietly unfolded its petals.
Two lotus seeds burst open one after the other, and the glove and the earring emerged before Li Banfeng.
The lotus caressed Li Banfeng's cheek with a lotus leaf. "Qi, do you like it?"
Li Banfeng pushed the leaf aside and looked at the glove and earring. "Any changes?"
The glove stood upright and raised its index finger. "Master, quite a few changes, and they're all very useful. There are some techniques I'm not yet familiar with; once I get the hang of them, I'll demonstrate them for you."
The earring said, "Master, I feel my ears are sharper than ever."
Li Banfeng nodded. "Very good. You've both worked hard. Get some good rest."
The glove could tell Li Banfeng had something on his mind. Not daring to disturb him, it focused on studying Smiling Thousand Hands' techniques first.
The next morning, Li Banfeng arrived at the Dark Star Bureau and headed to the stairwell once more.
This time, he changed his strategy.
Back in his school days, countless exams had taught him a valuable lesson: with some questions, you didn't actually need to understand them—if you could copy the answer, you got the points!
He stopped searching floor by floor and directly recreated the scenario. He entered from the sixteenth floor and exited on the nineteenth.
The cell on the nineteenth floor was the key. To Li Banfeng's mind, this cell was far more important than the storeroom.
He Jiaqing had infiltrated the Dark Star Bureau with the aim of rescuing He Haisheng. Datou likely knew of Cell No. 6's existence, and He Jiaqing had likely gone to Cell No. 6.
What he saw in Cell No. 6 was very likely the real records room.
His claim that the place didn't look like a records room would make sense under these circumstances too.
Yet contrary to expectations, when Li Banfeng emerged from the stairwell, the nineteenth floor remained just the recreation center, completely unchanged.
Recreating the scenario didn't work either?
Had some condition been overlooked?
Time!
The timing had to be recreated precisely as well.
Li Banfeng summoned Zhong'er. "Around what time was it when you saw Cell No. 6?"
Zhong'er thought for a moment. "Sometime after three in the afternoon. I can't remember the exact time."
After three o'clock—that was a fairly broad window.
Li Banfeng pondered for a moment, then had the records office bring over the electrical work ticket from that day.
The work ticket had been generated by the ticketing system and bore a clear timestamp.
The issue time was 3:26 PM. After running some calculations with Zhong'er, they determined that he had discovered Cell No. 6 around 3:50 PM.
At 3:50 PM, Li Banfeng entered the sixteenth-floor stairwell again and climbed to the nineteenth floor. Pushing open the stairwell door, he saw a massive iron door.
It worked!
The Dark Star Bureau's stairwell maze had revealed itself!
Behind this door should be Cell No. 6, just as Zhong'er had seen.
Just who was locked inside this cell?
What was this person's connection to the real records room?
Around the large iron door were numerous surveillance devices and a retinal scanner; all of these were left to the projector to handle.
The glove fumbled around the iron door for a moment, and with a creak, the door opened.
Its lock-picking speed had indeed gotten faster. Li Banfeng patted the glove. "Brother, there's another door inside. I'll need your help again."
According to Zhong'er's description, behind the iron door lay the actual door to Cell No. 6.
After Li Banfeng stepped through the iron door, pitch darkness engulfed everything. The glove whispered, "Master, there aren't any more doors."
No more doors?
Li Banfeng struck a match and looked around by its flame.
He saw glass display cases of varying styles and sizes.
He saw wire recorders, floor-standing radios, and a colossal behemoth.
That colossal behemoth was a steam locomotive.
Li Banfeng struck another match and examined the locomotive carefully.
Zhong'er hadn't been wrong—this was no model. Li Banfeng was certain it was the real deal. This model of train was exceedingly common in Puluo Province.
Why would a locomotive be kept in a storeroom? Li Banfeng couldn't fathom the reasoning either.
What perplexed Li Banfeng even more was that he had set out for Cell No. 6 on the nineteenth floor. Now that he had reached the nineteenth floor, why was he seeing the storeroom from the fifteenth floor?
Was this the storeroom from the fifteenth floor?
Li Banfeng struck a third match and looked back at the other items on the shelves.
A console television, a steam-powered sewing machine, and that conspicuous gantry planer.
This was indeed the storeroom Zhong'er had seen. Many items here weren't even considered obsolete by Puluo Province standards.
As for why it had moved to the nineteenth floor, Li Banfeng couldn't come up with an answer for the moment.
Walking deeper into the storeroom, Li Banfeng carefully observed its layout, when he suddenly heard the Qiansi earring say, "Master, there's movement."
Hiss—
It sounded like the venting of steam.
Li Banfeng whipped his head around and suddenly saw the steam locomotive right behind him, less than three meters away.
That steam locomotive had actually moved!
"Whew!"
Li Banfeng heard a low murmur. Because the sound was so deep and muffled, he couldn't make out its words.
Yet he sensed immediate danger, shivers running through his body.
"Whew!"
Another low murmur came, and this time Li Banfeng heard it clearly!
The train was speaking to him.
It wasn't a single word, but two.
It said: "Brother!"
Why is the train calling me brother?
"Is that you, He Jiaqing?" Li Banfeng suspected He Jiaqing was inside the train!
"Mistook you!"
Another low murmur came, and this time Li Banfeng understood it.
It said, "Mistook you." What did it mistake?
While Li Banfeng was still pondering, he suddenly heard the companion dwelling shout by his ear, "Ah Qi, dodge!"
Without the slightest hesitation, Li Banfeng activated Stepless Trace and dodged swiftly to the right.
The locomotive swerved sharply, pursuing him.
Zhong'er had made a grave mistake: he had assumed a train couldn't run inside the Dark Star Bureau.
Reality proved that a train could indeed run in this storeroom—because the space inside was colossal.
Li Banfeng darted between shelves and display cases. At his top speed, sprinting flat-out for over five minutes, he still hadn't reached the end of the warehouse.
Even worse, in a straight line, Li Banfeng couldn't outrun this steam train. The moment his footing faltered even slightly, the locomotive would be right on his heels.
To evade the train, he constantly dodged laterally. After several leaps, he found that the walls were nowhere in sight.
The space of this storeroom was expanding in all four directions, and the speed of its expansion surpassed Li Banfeng's running speed.
"Give it back!"
Seeing that the locomotive was about to overtake him, Li Banfeng darted sharply to the left. Just as the locomotive was about to turn left after him, a tremendous crash rang out—two trains had collided head-on.
"Little Train?" the locomotive asked.
"Old Train?" the companion dwelling replied.
Chapter 686